Le Chiffre's Trophy
by Savvy Sammy-13
Summary: Oneshot about Le Chiffre and Valenka during Casino Royale that explores their relationship and the attack in their hotel room. Written to make up for the lack of information about them during the movie. Most likely complete as is.


_I don't figure that this will get many views because I'm not sure how popular Le Chiffre is. I had to write this after watching Casino Royale because Hannibal made me into a huge Mads Mikkelsen fan. If you read it pretty please review? Thanks._

Valenka stared hard at the streets beneath the balcony. Although normally cool under pressure, she was finding it much harder to keep her hands from shaking. She knew that this situation was different than the others she'd been in. The people involved were dangerous, and after witnessing the things she had the last few days, she wasn't sure how things would turn out. The street lights below the balcony dotted the darkened streets like stars. The occasional car's headlights were like shooting stars, shooting past so quickly that they couldn't have seen the two men standing on either side of the balcony doors to her right and her left even if they had been looking for them.

As if the headlights were in fact shooting stars, Valenka wished that she was dreaming. She closed her eyes and tried not to focus on the painful lump growing in her throat. Instead, she focused on the breeze caressing her body as it blew in on her. It reminded her of her home, well the last one that she had known. There, she had always snuck up on the apartment roof where she was alone and away from the bustle of the busy streets beneath her. There it was just her and the wind. There were no fights, drugs, or strange people like it had been in their family apartment. Her father didn't want her around those things anyway. He was always glad when she disappeared and didn't return until the apartment was empty once again.

"If he doesn't show soon, he'll find your body. That oughta give him the fuel to win the game," one of the men growled from behind her.

Valenka clenched her teeth together, the lump growing much larger inside her parched throat as she stared straight ahead.

"He'll come," she whispered.

"Yeah that was what he was expecting to do on his poker break wasn't he?" The man laughed.

"He'll get the money," Valenka said shakily, interrupting the man and his attempted crude joke. "He never loses."

"For your sake, You'd better hope you're right."

"I am right," she gritted through her teeth.

"You think that he loves you?"

Valenka blinked a few times. The question caught her off guard, and she bit down on her bottom lip. It should have been a seemingly simple question, but it wasn't. It was something that Valenka had thought of more times than she was willing to admit. _Did _Le Chiffre really love her? He'd kept her around for a long time, but during that time he had put her in more danger than she'd been in in her whole life, even with her drug dealer father.

"Shut up man if he walks in and hears you-" the other man snapped.

"He won't. You think he loves you little white girl? You think he really does? I think that an asshole like him couldn't. He loves one thing and one thing only. Money. He's greedy as hell. What does he do for you? Give you nice things? He dresses you up like his little trophy, but that's all. You just follow him around."

Valenka grimaced and tightened her hold on the railing. Le Chiffre did buy her nice things, but he always had large amounts of money available so it would only seem right for him to do so. She exhaled shakily.

"He bought you this didn't he?" the man behind her asked.

Valenka jumped as his hand touched her back. It slid down the bare patches of her back visible because of the revealing yellow dress that she wore. She swallowed hard and glanced to her hands gripping the balcony rail. Her knuckles were white from the strain and her hands had quickly turned clammy.

"I know why he bought it for you. He likes seeing you in it, but that doesn't mean that he loves you. Do you think he does sweetheart?" the man lowered his voice to a whisper.

Valenka swallowed hard. Where was Le Chiffre? He hadn't somehow gotten wind that the men were here had he? In Valenka's mind a dangerous scenario began playing out. What if Le Chiffre left her to the men? Would he really do something like that?

"I asked you a question," the man to her left growled.

Before Valenka could answer, he snagged her backwards by a fistful of her blonde hair. She choked back a scream as her back collided with his body.

"Shhh," he warned threateningly as he tightened his grasp on the fistful. He wrapped his other arm around her neck, not squeezing hard but just enough to keep her still and in his grasp.

"I…," she stuttered, unable to think and unable to speak.

"Shhh. Don't scream. Do you think that he really loves you?" The man questioned again.

"I don't know," she blurted out nervously.

His hot breath hit her neck as he laughed, sending chills throughout her body.

"If he loved you he wouldn't have put you in danger by losing the money."

Valenka nodded in response. "I know," she gasped out breathily.

"Because you could get hurt couldn't you? A little thing like you…You're just as involved as he is by now," he murmured.

Valenka wanted to scream so badly. She could feel it rising in her throat, aching as the man continued talking right in her ear.

"Does he ever pull you close?" The man's lips nearly touched her ear as he spoke.

Valenka tried to pull away.

"Stop it," she ordered, finally forcing the words from her mouth. She reached up and tried to pull his arm away from her neck. "I'll scream. Someone will hear me."

"I don't think he loves you," the man spat. "But go ahead and scream and he'll lose you for sure."

Valenka exhaled shakily. She quit struggling against him. She felt vulnerable, and this was not a time she could hide it. Normally, she wasn't this involved. She'd always watched from the sidelines as people they were involved with became targets. Now she was one, for no reasons of her own.

The situation brought back bad memories. She remembered like it was yesterday the time she nearly became a target of a few of her father's clients. She was young then, a teenager, and too young to leave her father's home and go out on her own. He promised time and time again that things would get better, but it never did.

Where _was_ Le Chiffre? Valenka turned her head to try and glance inside the apartment. As long as she'd been with Le Chiffre, she still could not understand him. He rarely allowed her or anyone else inside his head. No one except Le Chiffre knew what was going on inside his own mind. Sometimes, she would feel as though she was making a breakthrough, but he would become cold and distant once again. Except for those times when he was cold, he provided for her like no one else had. She received every materialistic thing she needed, never having to do without anything. Having money was a luxury that she enjoyed now after doing without during her childhood, but the materialistic items weren't always enough for her.

"He likes having eye candy around," the man continued, breaking Valenka's thoughts. "He wants to see you, he wants others to see you, and he wants them to envy him. Does he ever have you go down to the poker table and stand around like a little trophy? I bet he does. I bet some people focus a lil too much on you instead of the game. Is that how he always wins?"

Valenka nervously glanced to the right. The other man was standing there, hidden out of view from anyone inside the room. He was just watching her, holding something that she couldn't see in his hands.

"Just let me go," Valenka murmured as she gripped his arm with both of her hands. "Please. He'll be here soon and-"

When the door to their room suddenly opened behind them, Valenka was shoved back toward the railing and into Le Chiffre's view. She suppressed her shriek of surprise as she latched back onto the railing. She heard the click as Le Chiffre turned the lights on in the room, and she tried unsuccessfully to calm herself. The few short seconds that followed felt like an eternity. The light entered the balcony and she squinted her eyes shut as she took a deep, shaky breath. She listened hard for any sign that he was heading toward the balcony and imagined him doing so, taking his time, maybe stopping for a drink before doing so, completely unaware of the danger that lay outside.

Le Chiffre opened the door behind her quicker than she expected though, and in a quick step he was right behind her on the balcony.

"So what? What's so damn important?" he demanded.

He sounded agitated, cold, and uncaring. Valenka turned to face him, reached out to him, and grasped his face with one hand, pulling him into her. She pressed her lips to his, inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne, wishing that she could take some comfort in the fact that he was there, but she knew he could provide no safety. Her quick intensity shocked him. He kissed her back for only a moment before he pulled away rather roughly.

Valenka clung to his shirt as she met his eyes, but she saw the man behind him coming forward. Nothing she wanted to say would come out of her mouth. The warnings she wanted to scream all disappeared.

"I'm sorry," she breathed out quickly, barely getting the words out before he was jerked backwards and out of her hands.

He let out a yell of surprise, and Valenka stifled her own scream as the same hands latched onto her neck from behind and pushed her forward into the room as well.

"Where's my money?" the man that had complete control of Le Chiffre demanded as he shoved him forward, farther into the room.

Valenka struggled against the hands that wrapped tighter around her throat. She gasped, trying to breath, trying to miraculously escape the well-dressed man that held her close to his body.

"Did you think that you could lose that kind of money and no one would notice?" the man continued yelling at Le Chiffre, but Valenka noticed that Le Chiffre could barely breathe, let alone answer the man's questions.

The thin cord wrapped around his neck cut into his skin, cutting off his air.

"The money is safe," Le Chiffre gasped out. His face was red and damp from sweat.

The black man shoved Le Chiffre to the floor beside a small table. Le Chiffre, surprised at the sudden movement, coughed and sputtered as he landed backwards on the ground, his lungs finally full of air.

"You'll have it tomorrow. All of it," Le Chiffre said hoarsely.

Valenka stopped struggling against the man that held her as soon as Le Chiffre was dumped onto the floor. She helplessly met Le Chiffre's eyes every few seconds as he struggled to calm his own breathing. The man that held her lowered one of his arms and Valenka raised both of her hands to grip the one hand that did hold her neck.

At the sound of a sword being unsheathed behind her, Valenka exploded into a frantic panic. The other man took the sword from the man holding her and tightened his own grasp on it, curling his fingers around the handle almost playfully. Valenka's heart leapt into her throat at the sight of the weapon.

"I'd take a hand for this betrayal, but you'll need it to play cards," the man said coldly.

"Hold out your arm," he turned to her quickly and pointed the sword at her.

Panic rose in Valenka's throat. Her breathing quickened.

"Hold out your arm or I'll take your hand."

"No!" she screamed and struggled against the man who removed one hand from her neck to force her arm out.

"Please!" she gasped aloud as the sword barely touched her arm.

The man dragged the blade over her skin lightly, but finally pulled away.

She continued to struggle, but the man holding her was too strong. The other man raised the sword high and Valenka screamed until she realized that she was not cut. He stopped the sword, inches away from her arm.

Wide eyed, she stared at the man before her. A smile broke out over his sweat covered face and he lowered the sword to hang by his side.

"Not a word of protest," the man murmured. "I guess that this answers your question doesn't it? I think it's time for you to find a new boyfriend." The man turned away from her and the one holding her shoved her to the floor.

She landed hard on her hands and knees, and the two men started walking toward the door. Valenka gasped for breath, unable to stop her body from trembling. She held her arm tightly in her other hand, grasping it as if she had been cut, and held onto it for dear life. The panic that tightened her chest and constricted her throat did not stop even after the men shut the door back behind them. For a few minutes she did not move, and neither did Le Chiffre. They sat, both gasping and breathing hard, neither one acknowledging the other.

Valenka finally raised her head slightly. Le Chiffre was still on his back, propped up by one arm. His face was red and the veins in his forehead were visible even from where she was sitting. He was breathing heavily, but he wasn't looking her way. His eyes were focused on the floor.

She tried to steady her own breathing. It still felt like the man's hands were on her neck and on her arm. It was too close. She'd thought she would lose her hand for sure, and Le Chiffre had done nothing, nothing at all to save her.

As the panic slowly faded, anger and shame replaced it. She fell back onto her butt on the floor. Her face burned and her head ached. The air in the room felt hot and stuffy. Valenka finally glanced back to Le Chiffre.

"What was he talking about?" Le Chiffre demanded breathily as soon as their eyes met.

Valenka glared back at him, staring into his milky and brown eye.

"What! You. And the fact that you lost the money!" She shouted when he continued to watch her, waiting for her answer.

"Not that," Le Chiffre breathed out deeply. "What question of yours was answered?"

"It doesn't matter. This is all your fault! It was _your_ betrayal _not_ mine!" Valenka exploded as she climbed unsteadily to her feet.

"You didn't have to come here with me!" Le Chiffre growled as he eased himself to a sitting position on the floor.

Valenka frowned at him. "We wouldn't have to come here and do this if you hadn't screwed up and lost the money!"

"Why do you stay with me then?" Le Chiffre yelled angrily. "If you were so scared of the risks then why are you still here? Maybe you're with the wrong man?"

Valenka froze. Her mouth fell open slightly, but she closed it back. She glared at him with his clothes ruffled, his face red, and his hair disarrayed from its perfect earlier do. After a few moments of silence, she turned away from him, completely at a loss for words.

"I know why," Le Chiffre continued. "Because you have nothing. You have no one," he said sharply, surprising her.

Valenka clenched her jaws as hot tears formed in her eyes. She bit down on her bottom lip as she turned back to face him. Valenka was never one to cry in front of anyone. She struggled to hold the tears back, ashamed that Le Chiffre would finally see her break. He would see that she couldn't handle the pressure as well as she pretended too.

"He asked me if you loved me," Valenka said shakily. The emotion in her voice ashamed her, but she continued boldly proclaiming words she hoped would somehow hurt him.

Le Chiffre's expression was still frozen, but he was still breathing hard. Valenka didn't expect his expression to change, but she continued anyway.

"I said that I didn't know if you loved me, and since you did not step in to help me, he said that my question was obviously answered. Now if you don't want me here I'll leave. I'll leave before it costs me my life," she gritted the last part out as her voice shook.

Before allowing herself to hear or see a response from him, she whirled back around as a few hot tears slipped from her eyes. So that he wouldn't see her cry, she darted to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Once inside, a sob escaped her throat. It echoed a lot louder than she expected in the empty bathroom. She gripped the edge of the marble countertop and stared into the large mirror. Her eyes flitted around the room, studying the fancy décor that covered the large room. None of that mattered at the moment. She could have cared less that the fancy bathroom had double showers, sinks, and a large bathtub. It all seemed worthless and stupid to be in such a fancy hotel room when it was in no way enjoyable. It was just another thing that Le Chiffre always spent money on.

She backed herself to the door and slowly slid her body to the floor. Valenka knew that she was alone. She didn't have anyone after her father had been killed.

"_Valenka, sweetheart, I'm sorry. It's dangerous business, but It's what I have to do," _her father had said only days before he died.

Valenka secretly hated him for leaving her. She hated him for associating with all of the dangerous men he associated with. She hated him for bringing them to their home where they were supposed to be safe. Valenka angrily hit the wall to her right with the side of her fist as another sob escaped her throat. Growing up around business that dealt with dangerous people should have made her smarter. She should have learned from her father's mistakes. At the time, she'd thought that it made her realize that was not something that she wanted, but when she'd met Le Chiffre, things changed. She'd been all alone. He seemed to offer stability. Now she found herself stuck in an even more dangerous sort of business, one that had already almost cost Le Chiffre his eye, and just nearly cost her hand.

"Valenka," Le Chiffre said from outside the door.

"Just go," Valenka snapped. Her stomach panged nervously. She'd expected Le Chiffre to leave, unsure of how to deal with her breakdown, but since he hadn't, she wasn't sure what to expect from him.

"Open the door now," he ordered.

Valenka rose from the floor with an aggravated sigh, but she stared hard at the jiggling door knob.  
"Just leave me alone!" she yelled. "Go play your game. It's only a matter of our life or death anyway. Hell, why don't you go flirt with that Bond man's little friend. I saw you watching her."

"Open the damn door!"

Valenka unlocked and opened the door in one quick movement. All of her courage faltered at the sharp tone of his voice.

Le Chiffre barged in immediately, but Valenka avoided his eyes. She lowered herself back to the ground in front of the door, not caring if he saw her crying or not. Everything hit her at once. She felt like she was breaking. She could see it all recurring again. She would see someone else close to her lose their life or possibly lose hers, all because of the mess they were involved in.

It surprised her when Le Chiffre silently sat down beside her, using his back to push the door back closed behind them. Valenka stared straight ahead. She wiped the fresh tears from her cheeks and folded her arms across her chest. She waited, allowing herself to think for a short while that Le Chiffre would actually say something first, that he would apologize, or say anything at all, but he didn't. He stretched his legs out, and cleared his throat.

"You're right you know," Valenka finally murmured. "I'm all alone. I know it."

"You're not," Le Chiffre said quickly, still staring straight ahead. "I didn't mean-"

"No. I don't have anyone. I know, but I've still sacrificed a lot for you. For us," she murmured. "I like to think that I have you, but times like this make me wonder otherwise."

"What could I have done to save you? If there was anything, I would have done it," Le Chiffre murmured.

"It's not just that," Valenka said. "You knew it was dangerous to mess with the money."

She sniffled just a little and sighed loudly. She wished that they weren't stuck in this situation. Instead, she wished that they were on one of their many expensive vacation excursions or on his yacht. There, even if he didn't love her, Le Chiffre at least pretended to. When they were alone he gave her his utmost attention. Those times kept Valenka going. With the way he was, it all made the time he did show her affection a lot more meaningful.

"Did they hurt you?

"No," Valenka said softly. She glanced to her arm and then back toward him.

"How long had they been here?

"Not that long," she answered.

Le Chiffre rubbed his neck where the cord had nearly broken skin. Now in the better light, Valenka saw that his hair was slightly matted to his forehead and his face was still reddened. He rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"You've got to win, Le Chiffre, "Valenka murmured softly.

Le Chiffre sighed in response.

"When you win we can go. We can go somewhere just the two of us," She laid her hand gently on his arm as she spoke. "You can take a break from all this for a while."

Valenka studied his face for any emotion, and grimaced slightly as a scarlet tear appeared.

"You're bleeding," she whispered. She knew that it had nothing to do with emotion. It was random, and at least had nothing to do with the feelings she wished he was feeling toward her.

Le Chiffre angrily pulled out his handkerchief, already stained with a few red droplets. He raised it, but Valenka intervened and slipped it from his hand.

"Let me?" she asked softly. She scooted in closer to him.

Valenka watched him carefully as she raised the handkerchief toward his face, searching his eyes from any resistance or anger. He looked rather emotionless, so she continued.

Carefully, she reached up to dab the drop of blood. She stared into his eye, studied the large scratch, and the scarlet drop before she moved to touch him. As soon as she did touch his skin with the cloth, he raised his hand, quickly latching onto her slender wrist. She gasped slightly and stopped, almost afraid of his reaction, but he weakened his grip. He met her eyes and his expression softened so she continued to dab the little red drop away with his hand still light on her wrist.

"You don't have to act this way with me," She whispered as she pulled her hand away and dropped it to her lap with the cloth. "I fucking cried in front of you for God's sakes. I don't just do that."

He flicked his tongue over his bottom lip before he raised his eyes back up to meet hers.

Valenka reached up and tilted his chin toward her. She kissed him softly, caressing the side of his face until he pulled away once again.

"Valenka, go ahead. Leave. Get out of here while you can in case things go bad," he murmured.

Valenka stared back at him, processing his words. It was the last thing she expected out of his mouth.

"You're going to win. Nothing is going to go bad," she said quickly, moving closer to him once again, longing for some sort of affection.

She wanted to be close to him, wanted to feel his touch, and wanted him to be sincere. She wanted to feel something that assured her that he did in fact love her, but he turned his face away from hers.

"C'mon, everything is going to be okay," she said softly, not even sure if she was assuring herself or him. "You still have a while before you have to go back down there-"

Valenka reached back out to turn his face towards hers, but Le Chiffre climbed to his feet, leaving her sitting on the floor. She dropped her eyes back to the stained cloth in her lap. He once again detached himself from her emotionally, just that quickly.

"Do me a favor and don't let any more men in our room while I'm gone, and stay away from Bond," Le Chiffre said as he straightened his shirt.

Valenka sat still and did not speak out of fear that the emotion would give her true feelings away once again as he began to fix his hair. She chewed at her bottom lip, savoring his taste there.

"And make your appearance at the table sometime tonight, alright?" he continued as he washed his hands in the large, glass sink bowl.

Valenka climbed to her feet and ran a hand tiredly through her blonde hair. She felt defeated and once again completely helpless, stuck in this vicious life cycle.

"And if you'd like, you can change." Le Chiffre turned from the mirror. His eyes scanned her body before he met her eyes again.

"There's a new dress hanging in the bedroom. You should wear that one, and come down to the poker table," he moved past her and exited the bathroom.

Valenka stood in front of the mirror, staring blankly at her own expression. She could see the sadness and disappointment written on her own face. A chill of emotion coursed through her body, but she tried to push it all aside. She left the bathroom and passed by Le Chiffre who was pouring himself a drink by the couch. He didn't acknowledge her, so she headed into the bedroom.

Hanging on one of the knobs of the large dresser was the dress. Valenka stared at the black plastic covering the dress. She wasn't even sure when it was brought in because she hadn't noticed it before. She ran her hand down the slick plastic, postponing seeing the kind of dress she expected would be there. It would be something fancy and expensive, she knew, but she was not excited.

After a few seconds, she slowly pulled the plastic up to reveal what was underneath.

Red fabric blossomed from beneath the black plastic, and Valenka removed the plastic completely so that she could get a better view. She held the hanger up, studying the little details in the fabric that accentuated the plunging neckline. There were places on both sides of the waist so that skin would be shown, and the rest of the dress was small, ensuring that it would be skin tight.

"_He wants to see you, he wants others to see you, and he wants them to envy him. Does he ever have you go down to the poker table and stand around like a lil trophy? I bet he does. I bet some people focus a lil too much on you instead of the game."_

The black man's earlier words echoed in Valenka's mind as she rubbed the material of the dress between her thumb and index finger.

It made her feel slightly stupid that the sight of a beautiful expensive dress would make her feel worse, but it did.

Beside the bed, their bags were still packed. Her eyes fell on the bags and she fought the urge to take hers and just go. How easy would it be to just leave and run away from her problems? The only problem would be where she would go. She was all alone. She only had Le Chiffre, and she wasn't even sure if she really wanted to leave him.

Valenka stared back at the dress as the demons in her mind waged war with themselves. She was confused. Did she really even know what she wanted? One thing she knew for sure, and that was the fact that Le Chiffre did like seeing her in the dresses he chose.

She glanced nervously toward the opened bedroom door, making sure that the main door to their room was closed before she slipped out of her green dress and slipped the red one off of the hanger. Once on, she stared at her reflection in the standing mirror in the corner of the room. The dress was tight, and showed the usual amount of skin that Le Chiffre's picks showed.

"Do you like it," Le Chiffre's voice echoed from behind her.

Valenka turned her head as he approached.

She looked back to the mirror as he came up behind her, and watched his reflection there.

"It's…nice," she murmured softly, trying to hide the disappointment on her face.

Le Chiffre looked calm and collected once again. If she wouldn't have known about the earlier scuffle then she would have sensed nothing wrong with him.

"I was only looking at that woman because she is suspicious," he said suddenly.

"What-"

"The woman with Bond," he continued.

"Oh, I just said that. I didn't mean that you were actually-"

"She is nothing compared to you," Le Chiffre interrupted her once again.

Valenka fell silent, studying his reflection in the mirror. He raised his hand as he stepped up beside her, and brushed against her cheek with his index finger slightly curled. He rested his other hand on the small of her back bare through the dress. She turned her face to his as if his slight touch on her face had been a command. Her eyes focused on his lips, but he did not move forward for a kiss.

"So I'll see you in a few minutes?" he asked.

Valenka, once again let down, turned back to the mirror.

"Yeah I'll be there," she said softly as her eyes began to brim with tears.

She watched Le Chiffre in the mirror as he turned and left the bedroom.


End file.
